Thinking About Photography

East of West LA

It doesn’t happen everyday but the reaction I like best to my photos is “Is this Los Angeles?” Somewhat surprisingly, this incredulity remains possible when photographing in large areas of the city. Although I have lived here for more than thirty years, I still have expectations inside my own head regarding what LA is supposed to look like versus what I see when I travel into the city’s huge sprawl of working class neighborhoods. In my experience, blue collar L.A. is terribly under-appreciated for its rough daytime beauty and lonely late night charms. And playing against these expectations is what a lot of my photography is about.